Sly Cooper: Walking the Thin Line of Fate
by Selfina-Hikayu and Co
Summary: A young thief in training tries to maintain her balancing act between being the Interpol chief's daughter and a life of crime. Slight Sly/OC moments, some Sly/Carmelita moments later on. Rated for language and some innuendos.
1. New Kid On The Block

**A/N: **This story I wrote a while back last year in 2011 and posted up on dA since I didn't really do much here anymore. But now with my revival taking place on again, I decided to throw this up here. So, please enjoy, review if you read and cheers.

**Disclaimer: **Sly Cooper, the Cooper Gang and all related characters are properties of Sucker Punch. Cortana Brea Harlow and other characters are owned by me, Breanna Edwards. This story isn't for profit, please don't sue. I'm just a huge fan.

**Sly Cooper: Walking the Thin Line of Fate**  
**Chapter 1**

The Clockwerk disaster was finally over, after nearly 2 and a half years of first defeating him, then tracking, finding and destroying the pieces along with the dreaded Hate Chip after Neyla had been reborn as Clock-la. She even had the pleasure of stomping on the Chip herself. But still, Inspector Carmelita Fox hadn't achieved her main goal; catching that mischief-making ringtail Sly Cooper and his gang. They gypped her out once more, right when she thought she had them.

The vixen let out a deep sigh, and plopped down into her office chair. She was now stationed in Venice, Italy to investigate and stop the tar pollution to the city's water reserves. But today was a slow day. She had to go to meeting after meeting, talking with this representative and that representative... She found herself half-wishing that raccoon would make an appearance, just so she had something exciting to do.

On top of that, she had to monitor the new interns for the new training program Interpol had developed. They figured they could always use new young recruits to handle the dirty work. Carmelita scoffed, why let someone else do the job when it's better done by yourself? She leaned back into her chair, and kicked her feet up. The brilliant beams of the setting sun shown through, scattering over her, warming her fur. This was probably the first time she had a chance to relax since the Clockwerk fiasco. _'It won't hurt if I closed my eyes for a few moments...'_The Inspector slid her eyelids down, arms crossed behind her head.

Outside the Latina's office, phones rang off the hook, papers were being shuffled and a loud murmur floated over the busy cubicles of the Italian HQ. Interns were helping the senior members of Interpol, eager to learn the trade of being a police officer and hopefully help out in the field to catch crooks and criminals alike.

One intern in particular, tripped the light fantastic while carrying a stack of papers. Her ears were plugged with headphones, mouthing words to a pop song as she picked a bit of lint off of her ribbed sweater. Her fluffy, ivory tail swished along with her rump to the rhythm while she bent to snatch up a stray paper that escaped the stack, leaning back up to continue her dancing stroll to an office door. She sent her platform shoe into the door, causing it to slam open.

Carmelita gasped, and straightened up in her seat, fixing her hair and her jacket. She didn't want to seem like she was lazing off on the job. "Uh, what can I help you w... Oh. Cortana. More papers, I assume?" The words rolled out of the vixen's mouth with a thick accent and dry tone.

The downy-furred intern dropped the stack of papers onto the Inspector's desk, shouting to hear herself over the music in her ears. "Here are some forms you have to do, Inspector Foxy! No time for sleep!" She tilted her head and smiled.

Carmelita frowned. This one, out of all the new interns, had to be her understudy. Why? She had to be the most annoying, loud, ignorant intern out of the bunch, and she had to be paired with her. It was just her luck. The fox sat back into her seat. Taking some of the papers in hand, she looked over them, then looked up at the intern while she putted around, fixing up various things in the office.

She had to be about 19, 20 or so. Her sense of fashion was very eclectic, her crimson platform sandals, tan-brown wide leg pants and dark blue ribbed sweater going well together. On top of the ragdoll cat's head sat a very red beret hat, with a patch in the front. The initals 'CBH' adorned it. _'Why is she here? She looks more like a fashion major than a police intern... There's no room for a fashion show here.'_

Cortana turned for a moment and then back, the same badge as the vixen's sat on her chest, but underneath it was a tag labeled 'intern.' Carmelita rolled her eyes, as if it wasn't obvious enough.

The feline turned back around towards the fire-orange vixen, who quickly cleared her throat and shifted her eyes back down onto her papers. "Yeah, you need to keep this place a little neater. Being a police lady doesn't mean you can be so messy." Cortana smirked. She loved giving her superior a hard time about anything.

"I don't have time to worry about how my office looks, I'm too busy trying to catch international criminals to keep up appearances." The Inspector shot back, papers slamming down onto the desk. Cortana simpered again, and floated over to the desk, a paw coming down onto it lightly while she took a seat.

"You can't expect to have a husband or even a boyfriend with _that_type of attitude. Maybe if you simply weren't so tied up in your work, you could find one. But! Then you'd lose your rep as 'Ol' Ironsides.' It's okay." She patted Carmelita's hand in a condescending way, and popped off the desk. "I'll get your afternoon coffee. Be back in a moment." With ivory tail swishing along with her rump once more, she sauntered out of the office, the music blasting out of her headphones sinking away into the murmur.

Carmelita fumed. She was 22, damn it, why was a kid, _a kitten_, telling her how to live _her life_! A fist slammed down onto the desk, sending her pencil sharpener, paper weight and other things into the air for a moment before they landed again. Her eyebrow twitched as she tried to contain her rage... As her superior, she should be able to tell her off if her father weren't the Lieutenant of the Venice branch of Interpol...

"Here you go, Inspector Foxy, nice cup of hazelnut espresso for you." Cortana smiled again, and turned, tail swooshing behind her. The vixen burned, and gave her a glare while she sauntered off and out of the office again.

"I hate hazelnut, and you know it!" She yelled after her.

"Get used to it, try new things in your life! Like not being a-"

Another police officer rushed into the office, "Inspector Fox!"

Carmelita grunted, and stood from her seat. "What's the problem?"

"We just received reports of manors in the area being broken into during the night."

_'Cooper?'_The vixen was half excited, half annoyed that Sly Cooper was at it again, taking her Shock Pistol off her desk. At least she didn't have to sit in this stuffy office and be annoyed by her teeny-bopping fashion queen of an understudy.

But the ragdoll cat stepped into the doorway, "Ooh, I hear we have a case, Bossy Foxy."

The Inspector let out a deep heave. It was just her luck.

The fox sped through the streets of Venice, with the feline understudy in the passenger seat, clinging to her seatbelt. Inspector Fox's new custom cruiser was a bright red convertible with the tan top down and Interpol's emblem on the two doors.

"Slow down! The crime already happened, what's the problem?!" Cortana shrieked, claws holding the upholstery.

"Shut up, you don't know anything about this! He could still be there!" Carmelita shot back, taking a sharp right turn around a building, narrowly missing it.

"Please, for the love of all that's holy, slow down!" The feline begged. The Inspector made another sharp turn to the left, sending the car spinning on the street until it came to a halt in front of an extravagant mansion, surrounded by Interpol agents. She smirked, and proceeded to exit the car.

"If you want to be a real police officer, you had better get used to the high speeds." She slammed the car door behind her, walking off to the crime scene. Cortana shakily undid her seatbelt, and stepped out of the car, wobbling a bit. She shook herself off and quickly regained her cool, following behind.

Inside was a beautiful living room, covered from wall to wall in lovely furniture, expensive paintings and adorned in exquisite wallpaper. A crystal chandelier hung above them, sparkling in the dusk's fading light through the gigantic windows. Upstairs, agents bustled back and forth, bending down to go underneath the crime tape. Inspector Fox climbed the winding stairs and crossed over, Cortana close behind.

The master bedroom was pristine, as if almost nothing had been disturbed, despite a few open drawers here and there, and an open safe behind a painting. Next to that, a security console was deactivated, and split in half, part of it hanging.

An American Longhair, white and black in fur inspected the open safe, examining the calling card left. He was tall, and his long slender white tail waved around in the air in thought. His black jacket sat over his white button up and blue silk tie and his crisp pants of the same color barely concealed his shiny black shoes.

"Daddy!" Cortana skittered over to her father, hugging him from behind. "I didn't know you'd be here! I thought you were off in Paris!" Her father looked underneath his arm, and smiled, wrapping it around his daughter.

Carmelita rolled her eyes, stopping a few feet away from them. _'How unprofessional, she's going to make a terrible cop.'_She straightened her form, and addressed the Lieutenant. "Lt. Sebastian Harlow, Inspector Carmelita Fox reporting. We just got the call that this house has been vandalized. I'm already suspecting it was Sly Cooper and his gang's doing, so I can take it from here."

The older feline looked up at the Inspector, and nodded, signaling her to relax. "Ah, Inspector Fox. I've been following your track record, and you've been doing well so far. I hope my daughter isn't causing you much trouble at the office."

Her eye twitched, but she smiled and shook her head. "No sir. She's been quite the little intern." She bit the inside of her cheek; she shouldn't have to lie, but the man just complimented her on her recent capturing of the Klaww Gang. She didn't want to spoil it.

Cortana flashed a smirk at the Inspector, which sent her raging inside.

"About what happened here, sir?" Carmelita did her best to ignore the smug little brat.

"The neighbor next door gave us an account of how he heard walking on his roof top, and looked out the window to see a silhouette. It seemed the perpetrator had a fluffy tail." Lt. Harlow explained, pointing to the window, then to the floor. "The security systems were cleanly cut through with something very thin, almost as if a wire were used. There was no forced point of entry, but it seemed as if they entered through the vent here. About $100,000 worth of jewelry was taken. We dusted for fingerprints, and found none."

"Sounds like the Cooper Gang." Carmelita crossed her arms. "We'll get them this time."

"On the contrary, actually it wasn't Sly Cooper this time around."

"...What?" Carmelita asked. She stammered, "W-what do you mean, 'it wasn't Sly Cooper?' This is his motive!"

Cortana slipped away from her father to look out the window, touching at it. Carmelita snapped her head to her, "Don't touch anything! This is a crime scene!"

"Oh whatever, there was no prints. Chill out, Ironsides." Cortana replied, and the vixen boiled.

"Here." Lt. Harlow held the calling card to Carmelita. Her anger melted away, and her curiosity escalated as she examined the card. It wasn't Sly's emblem at all.

It was the four suits in blue and black surrounded by white, thin embellishments on a black card, and on the back was a typed out message: Catch me if you can.

Carmelita boiled again. There's another thief on the loose? Is the Cooper Gang influencing more crooks? People are taking Interpol for a joke now, and this shows it! She bit at her lip, containing her rage in front of the Lieutenant. It was just her luck. _'Damn you, Sly Cooper, this is your fault. Now I have to get you, your band of thieves and this new criminal. I swear it, you're all going down, if it's the last thing I do, especially you, Sly Cooper!'_


	2. Encounter of the First Kind

**A/N:** Another chapter, since I couldn't get to sleep.

I had to read it over to make sure my lack of sleep didn't fuck up the flow of the story. Please point out any grammatical errors or typographical ones... Whatever you find, tell me and I'll fix it.

And Murray still has a van. It's a rental. :3

**Disclaimer:** Sly Cooper, the Cooper Gang and all related characters are properties of Sucker Punch. Cortana Brea Harlow and other characters are owned by me, Breanna Edwards. This story isn't for profit, please don't sue. I'm just a huge fan.

**Sly Cooper: Walking the Thin Line of Fate**  
**Chapter 2**

It was already 8 in the evening, and it was time for all the interns to go home. A lot of them weren't old enough to stay and work past 9, so it was a requirement to send them all home an hour early. Cortana shrugged her coat on, and slung her canvas messenger bag onto her shoulder. It was decorated with different patches and pins, saying witty things like 'Don't Mind Me; I'm Just Fabulous' and 'Idiocy is a Disease.' She made it a point to check up on her superior and give her just a little more trouble before she went on her way. She knew she was going to stay in the office all night, inspecting the evidence from today.

"Hey, Charmalotta," Cortana purposely mispronounced her name, "I'm going home."

Inspector Carmelita Fox was leaned over her desk, staring down photographs from the crime scene earlier. Cortana waited a moment to see if she would respond, before repeating herself.

"I'm going HOME, Inspector Fox!"

"Wh-what? Oh, okay, get home then. Don't let me catch you out past 9, there's a curfew." Carmelita didn't bother to even look up at the feline.

"You do know I'm 20 years old, right?" Cortana's eyebrows went down to express a glower, but the Latin vixen still didn't bother to look.

"Right, just, get home. See you tomorrow." Carmelita sat into her seat, looking over the calling card. She had never seen one like this before, and more importantly, it wasn't Sly Cooper's. So who in the world's calling card could this be?

Cortana rolled her eyes a little, and gave a half-hearted wave, "Bye Cinderella." She turned, and headed for the door.

Carmelita finally looked up, "Oh, and could you..." But the last she saw of the cat was the very end of her tail whipping away from the doorway. "Drat."

A silhouette bounced around on the roof tops in the dead of night. The skillful shadow flipped and twisted about in the air with much grace, slipping down on a wire that led onto the Grand Museum of Art's rooftop. "Hey Bentley, I'm in position."

"That's perfect, Sly. All you need to do now is find a way in without alerting the guards or setting off the security systems." Bentley's voice came in clear as a bell over the thieving raccoon's earpiece. "There seems to be a vent over there you can use to get in. But be careful; there are many security lasers everywhere. Trip one and the operation is a bust."

Sly Cooper chuckled, "Don't worry; we've got this in the bag." He stepped over onto the gigantic glass sunroof, looking down at the many paintings and sculptures, but the one they were after was the Prima Madonna; a small sculpture of a veiled beauty, dated back in the Romantic art era. Sly thought it would be a lovely edition to their loot collection, and it was just under him, waiting to be nabbed. "Give me 10 minutes, tops, and I'll have this lovely lady with me in no time."

Just as he was stepping toward the vent to make his entry, a shadow ran by in the museum in the direction of the Prima Madonna. His face went over in a lour, and he quickly got into the vent. Just who was this making a move on his target?

Inside, the security consoles were slice through, all the lasers had been deactivated and the guards stunned and taken care of. A silky tail swished in excited anticipation, the lovely Prima Madonna in direct sight.

"Oh yes, bella mio, you are definitely mine for the taking. Everyone will be looking for you once they realize you're gone." The thief giggled, and reached their paws out to take the prized sculpture, until it was whipped away off its display from above. "Huh?"

"Yeah, about that..." Sly Cooper dangled from above, and dropped down onto the display, somersaulting backwards with ease. "This lady here is coming home with me." He patted the sculpture. "And just who might you be?"

His question was met with absolute silence. He tilted his head to the side, inquisitive, "Did they escape? Wow, they're quicker than me."

"Y-you're... Are you Sly Cooper, THE Sly Cooper?" The voice broke the dead air in eagerness.

"Uh, yeah, the only one I know about." Sly sarcastically answered, swinging his cane onto his shoulder to let it rest there. "Are there any others?"

It was silent again. Suddenly a shriek came, and out of the shadows dashed an ivory white feline that stuck herself to Sly, hugging him tightly. "Oh my god, it's Sly Cooper! It's really you! I've been looking up all the heists you've done, you're an absolute thieving genius! The greatest there is!"

Sly was a bit surprised and uneasy at how close the feline was, especially since he didn't know her from a can of paint, but he relaxed once he saw she meant no harm. He tilted his hat up and looked down just to see what she looked like, since she came at him so quickly.

The feline was a creamy ivory in color, fur downy to the touch and her hair was of a medium-short length, colored like her fur. Two strands poked out from her head and served as a bang, while two other ones, thicker ones pointed up, slightly wavy. In her left ear were two gold earrings. A pair of light emerald eyes gleamed at him as she stepped backward to properly present and introduce herself, her pink nose wiggling a little in excitement. She twirled around, and gave a dramatic pose, grinning widely.

"I'm Cortana Brea Harlow, master thief in training. This is my first big heist; I planned this all by myself! But, I didn't think you and I would be going after the same thing! I'm quite elated about it!" She clenched her gloved fists in all her excitement, and bounced up and down, her fluffy tail's tip swishing.

Sly scratched his head with the hook of his cane, still studying her. Her muffler covered the bottom half of her face and she hadn't bothered to pull it down yet. He reached his cane over to do so. "Aren't you a bit young to be doing this kind of thing? There's a curfew you know."

Cortana scoffed, eyes rolling up. "I'm 20. Why does everyone think I'm younger than I am? It's so stupid."

"That's because you look young. You're a cute cat." Sly pulled his cane back, and onto his shoulder again, continuing his study. Her attire was very stylish, he'll admit, and had quite the thieving look. Her shirt was divided into two parts, and ended at her midriff, a deep V-neckline showing a sizeable fuzzy cleavage. Sly cleared his throat, and continued on. Her basic brown utility belt, with only two pouches sat on her hips tightly, her duster floating behind her a bit, just as the ribbon on her left arm did. Her baggy harem-esque pants were stuffed into knee-high platform boots. He nodded in approval. "Do you come around here often?" He was asking honestly, but with his natural charming and flirtatious nature, it came off as such.

Cortana gave her own charm a shine, smiling with half-lidded eyes, "No, this is my first time." Putting a paw onto her hip, she relaxed herself, her starstruck state fading. She pointed her chin to the Prima Madonna, "Can I have my date back please?"

"No can do on that, miss, but perhaps I can be your date? I know a place where the spaghetti sauce is superb, and I'd love to show you." Sly returned the smile with his own charming grin.

The ragdoll cat pulled her muffler back up, still smiling underneath it. "Perhaps, at the moment though, I'm more interested... in women!" Cortana whipped out her paw, a quick and thin silvery wire shooting out at the Prima Madonna, wrapping around and snatching it from the raccoon's gloved hands with a back-whip, and grabbed the sculpture in her free paw. "But I do love spaghetti. You'll definitely have to take me there sometime."

Sly smirked, setting his cane down onto the floor, using it as a support. "Nice trick there... Never seen anything like that before, very nice." He was impressed. He raised a hand to his ear, touching the communicator that was linked to his Binocucom. "Bentley, this is gonna take a while."

The glass sunroof shattered. Inspector Carmelita Fox dropped in with Shock Pistol at the ready. "I found you, Sly Cooper!" She called, landing on The Thinker's shoulder. "You won't get away this time!" She pulled the trigger, her pistol sending a bolt of sheer electricity at him and the feline.

Sly reacted quickly, pulling Cortana out of the way with the hook of his cane, "Hold on, we're getting out of here!" He sped down the hallway, narrowly missing the fired up vixen's shots of electricity. Cortana held onto the Prima Madonna in the crook of her arm and her other arm around Sly's shoulders, looking behind.

"You're not going to escape me that easily, you OR your little partner!" Carmelita raged, hopping down and giving chase, aiming her Shock Pistol right at them.

"Alright, change of plans!" Cortana slid out of Sly's grasp, running beside him. "Catch!" The Prima Madonna flew into the air, and into Sly's hands. "Now, hold on!" She grabbed onto the hooked end of his cane, and swung her hand up, the wire wrapping itself onto a hanging light, before pulling them up and swinging them out a window with a crash. The pieces of glass sparkled in the moon's light, as they fell down into the shadows of the streets below.

Carmelita stopped dead in her tracks before she ran herself out of the window. She looked down into the shadows, seething at herself for not shooting fast enough. She slammed a fist down onto the broken window's pane. "Damn you, Sly Cooper! This is the last time you get away from me, I swear it! You can bet your sweet ass I'm going to get you, Ringtail! I'll get you!"

Down in the alleyway, both raccoon and feline hid under a tarp covering a cart in the street. Neither one took a breath for a few moments, listening for any sounds around them, but the only thing that was awake other than them, were the crickets.

Sly was the first to whisper. "I think it's safe... I don't hear her cursing my name anymore. She probably thinks we got away." He peeked out from under the tarp.

"Well, we aren't in handcuffs, so technically, we DID get away." Cortana smirked playfully, slipping from underneath the tarp and into the street. She stood, and pain made her face twist into a wince, bringing her down onto a knee.

"Hey, are you alright?" Sly slid out of the tarp after her, settling beside her to take a look. A shard of glass had driven itself into her leg. Sly tapped his communicator, "Bentley, have Murray drive the rental van over, we have a small situation here."

"Right, I've locked onto your coordinates and I'm sending them to Murray right now. His estimated time of arrival should be 5 minutes from his current location. Hang tight, Sly!" Bentley's voice transmitted over the communicator.

"Thanks. Don't move it too much, we'll get that out for you. You're not used to huge landings, are you?" The master thief smiled a bit. He had his own blunders when he was first starting out, despite them being few and far in between. But, he had blunders nonetheless.

Cortana smiled back sheepishly. "I haven't had much practice... I was hoping to leave out the vents again, just how I came in. We needed a quick escape... I know how that police woman is with her gun. She's very trigger happy."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Sly pulled her arm over his shoulders, "Alright, we'll take this a little at a time. You'll be okay."

"Alright. Thanks."

Cortana rose up, but slumped down in a wince. Stretching her leg too much caused a lot of pain from the obvious injury. She limped along, using Sly as a support, the Prima Madonna in her other arm as they walked to the main street, Murray drove over, whipping the rental around so the back was towards them. The pink hippo poked his head out of the window, looking back.

"Sly! What happened?" He looked intensely worried, noticing the cat's injury. "Is she alright?"

The raccoon grinned. "She'll be fine, Murray, no problem. Just looks like we'll have an extra guest for tonight."


	3. Inheritance

**A/N: **Another chapter... Not sure where I wanna go with the story now, any ideas?

**Disclaimer:** Sly Cooper, the Cooper Gang and all related characters are properties of Sucker Punch. Cortana Brea Harlow and other characters are owned by me, Breanna Edwards. This story isn't for profit, please don't sue. I'm just a huge fan.

**Sly Cooper: Walking the Thin Line of Fate****  
Chapter 3**

The Grand Museum of Art was surrounded by Interpol squad cars and agents, the whole place turned into another crime scene. Lieutenant Sebastian Harlow took careful examinations and photographs of the bare platform where the Prima Madonna sat before the intrusion. Inspector Carmelita Fox simmered, tapping her fingers on the wall next to the broken window. Yellow eyes that burned with a furious determination darted around below in the streets, looking for any sign for where they could have gone. She had them, right there. Today HAD to be the day where she was a terrible shot. It was just her luck.

Lt. Harlow stepped over to the Latina, a bag in hand with a clue. A piece of silvery wire sat lone in the plastic, glimmering in the coming dawn's light. "What's Sly Cooper's weapon of choice again?" He questioned the Inspector.

Carmelita snapped out of her fixed searching and turned to address the Lt. "Uh, a gold-hooked cane, a family heirloom that he gained when his father was murdered by the Fiendish Five. May I ask why, sir?" Her gaze narrowed to what was in the bag. She frowned. That's when she remembered Sly's accomplice had used wire to escape out of the window. She should have shot them down.

"And you said you saw Sly Cooper with this other...?" Lt. Harlow's voice trailed off, waiting for the Inspector to answer.

She continued staring at the wire intently, almost as if she were staring down its owner. Her eyes were burning with a different light now... "I'm not entirely sure what the species was, sir, but I do remember they had a fluffy tail, just as the perpetrator yesterday, and the wire they used quite clearly." She damned the wire, and the user to herself. If it weren't for his new accomplice, the vixen would have that ringtail in custody by now. She was tired of always coming so close, just to fail.

Lt. Harlow's voice tuned into her ears again as her rapid, cursing thoughts faded out, "...And you should have had backup on hand to help you make sure they didn't escape. I'm very disappointed in this, Inspector Fox, you acted unprofessionally. I don't want to see such a performance this poor again, especially from you."

Carmelita's ears tilted down, wincing a little at the harsh scolding from the older feline. "Yes sir. It won't happen again sir." She took the bag from the Lt., and he turned to walk away.

"I'm leaving the camera with the other officers. When everything is wrapped up here, make sure you develop these photos and scan them for anything. I want you to report to me at 3:00 PM today. I won't tolerate these thieves slipping right from under our noses." The American Longhair said, before leaving the room.

The fox gave a deep sigh, and leaned back against the wall. She turned her head to meet the lit horizon; the sun was coming and that meant it was almost morning. And she hadn't had a wink of sleep since the first intrusion. She couldn't get a wink now, even if she wanted to.

It was just her luck.

"Almost done here, and you'll be as good as new." Bentley murmured, rolling his wheelchair over to a table with some gauze, bandages, antibiotics... Everything you could find in a First Aid kit was there. The extracted piece of glass from Cortana's leg sat in a medical tray. Cortana herself was in a seat next to the table, biting her lip in excruciating pain. They couldn't give her much in terms of painkillers without knocking her out, so she refused. She was planning to leave after she was patched up anyway.

The turtle strolled back over, and bandaged her up after smearing some antibiotics on the wound to keep infection at bay. It wasn't a deep enough cut for stitches, so she would be fine. "There you go, madam, all better!"

"Thanks, I appreciate it, much." The ragdoll cat managed to squeeze out a grin from her pained expression, as she rose to leave. "Now, if you'll all excuse me-"

"Wait a moment; we barely got to know each other." Sly stated, prompting her to sit again while he sat in his own seat backwards. "We brought you to our safehouse to help you out, but how do we know you'll keep this location a secret?" It wasn't often that they brought someone to their hideout, obviously due to the risk of exposure. But the cat had an injury she got from helping both her and him escape. The least he could do was have Bentley fix her up, but while the turtle was doing that, he could get some much needed answers from her.

Murray, who sat a ways from them, was fiddling his thumbs, pondering many things from the climax of the Clockwerk disaster. His eyes glanced at Bentley's wheelchair, and he sighed deeply. He was in a perpetual melancholy about losing his grip on Clock-la's beak... If he were paying attention, Bentley would never be in this condition now. He definitely blamed himself for Bentley's inability to walk, but what could he do about it now?

Bentley sat the medical tray into his lap, before rolling over to the garbage to dump the bloodied glass out. Despite it being evidence, it was safe there; they always take their trash and burn it before relocating elsewhere. Bentley personally had no problem with the feline; he realized she was still a rookie in thieving; else she wouldn't have sustained any trauma. If she tried to attack them, she would be causing herself more pain and agony from trying to move. "Sly has a very valid point. We don't even know your name."

The feline opened her mouth to reply, but Sly did it for her, "Cortana Brea Harlow, master thief in training apparently. She has a lot of potential." He tapped his cane, an idle gesture while he smiled at her. "Never have I heard a name like that before."

The turtle sat his laptop onto another table, and opened the screen. With some quick clicking, he looked through the ThiefNet database of all known thieves and crooks, but to no avail. "Huh, it seems like our guest here doesn't have a record. I'm sure with trying to steal rare sculptures you'd develop some type of recognition." He motioned to the Prima Madonna; the pristine marble sculpture sat a foot away from him, undamaged.

Cortana's eyebrow went up, dubious. "I'm sure I have some... Oh." She stopped, realizing she just started leaving calling cards with the break-in of the mansion. And she was sure if Bentley could look up all the info on all thieves, then he had information for all the officers too, and she didn't want him to make the connection between her and her father. That would be too much trouble. "Nah, I don't have a record. Sorry." She smirked, falling silent soon after.

"So, you're new to the thieving scene I see. Care to tell us what made you want to take up a profession like this? This isn't a soft job for a lovely lady such as yourself, you could really get hurt." The raccoon tilted the brim of his hat up with his cane, a playful smirk on his lips. He knew well enough she could at least get away if she needed to.

Cortana rolled her eyes, she saw through the tease. "I'm just a thief. Maybe boredom got me into it, maybe the easy money. I usually fence most of the stuff I get. Can't really keep it at home..." Her thoughts changed to her father, he would definitely notice all the stolen goods she collected.

"Ah, you have a home here?" Bentley inquired. "So you're a thief from the local area?" Bentley hammered away quickly at his laptop, possibly recording the conversation while it progressed.

Cortana had half the mind to lash her wire onto the turtle's laptop to keep her information off the net, but she figured as long as she didn't say anything too personal, he'd have nothing to write about. She just hoped there weren't any secret cameras on her either. "Something like that. I have connections in the area."

Sly gave her another throughout look over from his seat. "You don't sound or look Italian at all."

Bentley continued typing, muttering information, "Cortana Brea Harlow, female. Species: Cat, ragdoll variety. 5'5, 5'2 without platforms, white and cream colored fur. Origin in America based on the accent, possibly the West Coast."

"Hey! Stop with all of that, I don't want anyone knowing who I am." The feline had a deep frown on her features. "You're gonna upload that stuff onto ThiefNet, aren't you?"

"Nah, we don't contribute to that. Some undercover police officers use it. We're careful about what we say and don't say on there." Sly twirled his cane around in his fingers with ease. "There's no problem. It's just for Bentley's own records."

"That's precisely what I'm doing." The turtle confirmed.

Cortana relaxed for a moment, before she noticed the sun was coming up, and panicked. "Hey, what time is it right now?"

"Approximately 6:38 and 32 seconds, why?" Bentley answered.

The cat jumped up, and squealed from a twinge of pain from her injury, but she couldn't afford to stop now. "I've gotta go, I'm sorry guys. I have a bit of a date to keep." She limped her way to the door, lifting up her muffler.

Sly Cooper lazily reached his cane over, the hook catching her and softly, slowly pulling her back over to him, being careful in not hurting that leg of hers. "You're forgetting your date here."

Cortana felt the hairs on her neck raised as he said that, but he motioned to the Prima Madonna. "Oh. You can keep her. She brightens this place up." She smirked, pointing her chin to the extremely old pizza box on the table. "That's gross by the way." With that, she reached into her V-neckline and handed Sly her calling card; the blue and black four suits with the white embellishment of wires. "Here's my card, in case I'm needed."

Sly took it, and looked at it. He didn't see any name, any number or anything that would get him into contact with her. He looked back up at her, puzzled.

Bentley wheeled himself to Sly, and took the card. "Ah, I see, there's an encryption right in the flourish of the design. Very clever, I must say."

"Thanks. Okay, now I really have to leave." She said, haste rising in her voice. She unhooked herself, and limped to the door. She turned for a moment, and tapped the hippo on the shoulder, much to his surprise. "Thank you for driving." Without him, it would have taken Sly and her forever to get back to the safehouse in her condition. She was grateful to him for driving.

The pink hippo smiled to himself. At least he helped someone out.

And with that, she headed out the door, and latched her wire onto the nearest streetlight, swinging down and landing on her good leg, as swiftly as she could before disappearing between the buildings.

***

The turn of the 7th hour of the day was coming. Tumbling into an open window, the ragdoll cat landed on a light blue carpet. Her room was a rather big one, in a lovely two-story home, next to the river that ran through the city. An unmade bed with an open laptop sitting on it was in the middle of the room, a desk with some papers, books, little figures and other things to the side of it, and her door a few feet away from that. Cortana quickly shrugged and hopped out of her thief outfit, cringing with the surges of pain in her leg.

Carmelita figured she would be a hard-ass, and specifically request the feline to be at the office at 7 in the morning, since she comes in at 7:30. The office doesn't open until 8, but being the workaholic the vixen was, she wanted to instill the 'early to bed, early to rise' quality she had in her intern... Or, just to be a hard-ass. Cortana didn't know which it was.

"Cake Batter, are you in there dear?" A knock rapped at her door. "Love, it's almost 7. It's time to wake up for work."

"Uh, yeah Mom, I'm up!" Cortana worked faster, slipping off her boots, terrified her mom would come in and see the ensemble. She threw the entire thing into her closet, and grabbed her work pants off her desk chair, jumping into them with a yelp.

"Cortana Brea, are you alright? What was that?" Her mother's knuckles rapped at the door again. "Shall I come in?"

"Mom, give me a moment, I'm naked!" Hastily, she pulled on her sweater, and glanced over at the closet, seeing her boot and duster were half out. She stuffed them back in with her foot. "You can come in now!"

Her mother, a Siamese-Abyssinian mix, entered the room, looking very puzzled. "What was that yelp for, Cake Batter? Are you alright?" She came over, her skinny tail swishing behind her as she examined her child, taking her cheeks into her paws. "You look tired."

"Mom, I wish you'd stop calling me Cake Batter. It's not chic." Cortana pouted; she wasn't a child anymore.

Her mother smiled, "But you're the sweetest thing I know." She pressed a motherly kiss onto her kitten's forehead, and scooped down to pick up her messenger bag and coat from the floor, handing it to her. "Now, I made you some breakfast-to-go downstairs and a few extra dollars in case you didn't want to come home for lunch. Be good, don't bother your father too much while he's on the job, and be SAFE." She stressed the last part.

Cortana sighed, and hugged her mom, before sauntering out of the room, trying to keep her posture to hide her limp.

As soon as she heard the front door close, her mother August opened the door to her closet, and looked at the thief outfit. She sighed heavily. Taking the outfit into her paws, she sat on her daughter's bed, frowning. "Oh, Cortana Brea, you take after your mother quite well, hm?"

***

"You are LATE!" Carmelita shrieked at the teeny-bopping fashion queen while she strolled into her office, music blaring in the feline's ears. "You are 5 1/2 minutes late, do you know how that would look to your commanding officer? You could lose your job! Are you even listening to me?!"

The vixen decided that today, she would be all out straight up with the nonchalant intern, no matter if her father was the Lt. of the Venice branch of Interpol. If she wanted to be a real police officer some day, she had to start being hard with her right now. But in actuality, she just wanted to vent her rage out. She didn't like the young feline anyway, especially when she told her she'd never find a husband or boyfriend. She doesn't have time for that as long as Sly Cooper was on the loose.

She continued shouting, "You're so concerned with what matches with your shoes or your new bag or coat, this isn't a fashion show! This is a police department! We are Interpol! We're an agency that captures international criminals! Do you know how serious this business is?"

Cortana popped out her earphones while her superior shouted, and raised a paw up to her, prompting Carmelita to stop in surprise mid-sentence. "Look, fox," She started, emphasizing 'fox' derogatorily. "I am in absolutely no mood to deal with this crap today." The ragdoll cat gave the vixen a deadpan expression. "I hurt my leg, and I don't have any aspirin, so please. Make it easier for us both, and stop being Ironsides for a day."

Carmelita goggled, still gawking at the back of the cat's head as she walked off to do her daily routine of collecting forms for her to review and sign. The Inspector just could not win today. She flopped down into her office seat, and dropped her head onto the desk. She lost both Sly Cooper and the new thief, she got chewed out by Lt. Harlow, and she got chewed out again by his teeny-bopping, fashion queen, fast-mouthed mop of a daughter.

It was just her luck.


End file.
